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Syria

June 27, 2026

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Supreme Court backs Trump move to end Syrians’ deportation protections

The decision affects some 6,100 Syrians who live in the United States.

Amjad Kurdo / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images

Explainer

Syria’s energy push could soon get a major boost from Chevron: What to know

The country's leaders are seeking to translate a flurry of oil and gas agreements into concrete investments and rebuild an industry devastated by more than a decade of war, sanctions and isolation.

Defendant Wassim al-Assad appears before the Fourth Criminal Court during the opening session of his trial in Damascus on June 24, 2026.

Syria opens trial of Wassim al-Assad, cousin of ousted president: What we know

The trial follows another session in the case against Atef Najib, also a cousin of former President Bashar al-Assad, as Syrian authorities continue prosecuting figures linked to the former regime and its remnants.

Latest News

Syria announces direct flights to Amsterdam as Europe links expand

OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images

Syria’s Sharaa says he had ‘multiple discussions’ with Trump on Lebanon, favors dialogue

US President Donald Trump meets Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in the Oval Office, Washington, DC, Nov. 10, 2025.

Amberin Zaman

Chief Correspondent

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Jared Szuba

Defense and Security Correspondent

In Washington, DC, reporting on defense, national security, military

Beatrice Farhat

Associate Editor (Lebanon)

In Beirut, reporting on regional news, culture, conflict

Danny Makki

In London, reporting on Syrian politics and culture

Ali Hashem

In Doha, reporting on Iran, regional politics, conflict

Cagatay Cebe

In Istanbul, reporting on security and counterterrorism

Seized drugs, including Captagon, are displayed for the media in the town of Marea, in the northern Aleppo countryside, on May 24, 2022, following clashes among different Turkey-backed factions in Syria. - A decade of appalling civil war has left Syria fragmented and in ruins but one thing crosses every frontline: the drug fenethylline, commercially known as captagon. The stimulant -- once notorious for its association with Islamic State fighters -- has spawned an illegal $10-billion industry that not only

US readies strategy to target Syria’s Captagon trade

In the coming weeks, the Biden administration will submit to Congress an interagency plan to tackle the Syrian regime's multi-billion-dollar drug business.

A large poster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is decorated with paper flowers during the opening of the 42nd International Flower Show in the Tishreen park in the capital Damascus on June 22, 2022. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP) (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images)

Syria's Assad accuses France of 'hysteria' for calling to put him on trial

Damascus is furious after French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said she thinks Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should stand trial for his role in the Syrian war.

Raqqa’s first ever girls’ soccer team poses outside a pitch funded by Norwegian donors, April 25, 2023.

Syrian girls play soccer among ghosts of Islamic State

Raqqa's first-ever girls' soccer team is blooming where Islamic State once terrorized the society.

Syrian refugees living in the earthquake-affected areas of southeastern Turkey cross the Turkey-Syria border at the Cilvegozu border crossing, Turkey, February 19, 2023. A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the country's south-east in the early hours of February 6, followed by another 7.5-magnitude tremor just after midday. The quakes caused widespread destruction in southern Turkey and northern Syria, leaving behind more than 46,000 dead. (Photo by Konstantinos Tsakalidis / SOOC / SOOC via AFP) (Photo by KONS

Turkey Elections: Runoff becomes tug of war over Syrian refugees

As Turkey heads for its presidential runoff, the opposition and the government are in a race to send Syrians and other refugees back home in an effort to woo nationalist voters.

Passengers, who were stranded following the border closure due to the coronavirus pandemic, wait to cross into Iraqi Kurdistan from the Syrian side of the Semalka border crossing in northeast Syria, July 29, 2020.

Intra-Kurdish tensions paralyze northeast Syria’s main border crossing

Northeast Syria’s only external border crossing closed abruptly May 17 for an unknown period, disrupting trade, medical corridors and humanitarian access to the area.

FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images

Qatar emir skips Assad's Arab League speech in Saudi Arabia

The leaders of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt publicly praised Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s participation in the summit after Syria was readmitted to the Arab League.

Salih Muslim

LISTEN: Syrian Kurdish leader says Assad's return to Arab League welcome, but won't amount to much

Co-chairman of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) Salih Muslim speaks to Amberin Zaman for "On the Middle East" podcast about the latest efforts to re-integrate Damascus into the Arab fold and what that means for Syria's Kurds.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan meets Syrian President Bashar Al Assad in Damascus on April 18, 2023. - Saudi Press Agency

Syria's Assad lands in Saudi Arabia seeking financial incentives at Arab summit

Robert Ford, the last US ambassador to Syria, said the Jeddah summit will likely end with “nice promises” in front of the cameras but a different outcome in reality as normalization with Assad, overriding sanctions and the return of refugees face mounting hurdles.

Syria Assad

Analysis

Assad’s comeback and the Erdogan suspense

Having been rehabilitated by the Arab League, the Syrian president is poised to wield influence in post-election Turkey, regardless of who wins.

Gilles Kepel

By Gilles Kepel

A man walks past a poster of President Bashar al-Assad, a candidate for the Presidential election, in the Syrian capital Damascus on May 17, 2021. - A Syrian former minister and a member of the Damascus-tolerated opposition will face Bashar al-Assad in this month's presidential election, the constitutional court said. The Assad-appointed body approved only three out of 51 applications to stand in the May 26 ballot, among them the 55-year-old president himself, widely expected to win a fourth mandate. (Photo

US lawmakers unveil bill targeting normalization of Syria’s Assad

The legislation would expand the list of sanctionable targets under the Caesar Act and require an interagency report on the administration's counter-normalization strategy.

Women queue to receive humanitarian aid packages at the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp, which holds relatives of suspected Islamic State (IS) group fighters, in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh governorate on August 18, 2021. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP) (Photo by DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Islamic State women use children as 'sex tools,' Syrian Kurdish officials say

Officials in northeast Syria tell Al-Monitor that women in Islamic State internment camps are forcing young boys to impregnate women as part of an alleged IS campaign to "go forth and multiply."

Saudi Arabia announced a major Captagon bust this week, with nearly 8 million pills seized.

Saudi Arabia seizes 8 million Captagon pills as it courts Syria's Assad to clamp down

The kingdom and Jordan both want Syria to help stop the flourishing drug trade as they seek normalization with the Assad government.